Postscript
by Momosportif
Summary: A chapter fic inspired by the mysterious assassin of Ep. 2. True to his word, he and Jin are meeting again- and this time around, no orders to murder means the romantic pursuit is full on! Mugen: confused, Fuu: righteous, Jin: impassive as ever. Enjoy.
1. The Arrival

The Arrival

"Hmmm?" Fuu leaned over, twisting her head this way and that as she peered at the curious paper. It hadn't…no it _hadn't_ been slipped under the doorway last night. Was it the bill? Her dark eyes squinted as she extended a hand to pick up the mysterious envelope.

"Jin."

A pale fist reached past her ear and neatly removed the letter from her prying scope.

"It says 'Jin'."

She gazed up quizzically at the severe recipient, depositing the paper in the fold of his sleeve. A half-hearted embarrassment colored her cheeks and she reprimanded, "Don't sneak up behind me like that, jeez, reading over my shoulder, no concept for personal…"

Jin rose an eyebrow in anticipation of self-contradiction. Fuu stood her full height regally and dusted off her knees before flouncing into the hostel central room past a bleary Mugen.

"Wow, you pissed her off already? Your jack-assitude never ceases to amaze me."

Jin replied to this profound wisdom with serene silence.

* * *

A heavily lidded pair of eyes traveled slowly back and forth across the table.

Fuu, squirming on her cushion.

Jin, sipping tightly from his cup.

Fuu, bouncing on her decreasingly neatly folded legs.

Jin, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Fuu – chopsticks jittering vegetables into her serving of rice, Jin – raising a carefully controlled spoonful of soup. Fuu – chewing her sleeve hem – Jin – brushing a stray lock from his cheek – Fuu – shaking the table – Jin – readjusting glasses – what the heck was going on?

He was definitely missing something big.

Just as Mugen slumped forward to engage himself in the situation, Fuu squealed,

"Did you open it?"

He gave the words a good few seconds to clarify the conundrum as Jin stared flintily across their lunch. His understanding diminished, decidedly.

"_Whaat?_" Mugen intoned with intentionally excessive volume. The lack of focus on himself was disturbing and needed to be remedied soon, or at least be modified to include him. Presence by voice was not acknowledged at all; Jin and Fuu continued an intense stare down unmoved.

"Did you?" she whispered. Jin gave the slightest of affirmative nods, keeping his eyes unwaveringly focused on the girl across from him despite the beastly visage that had invaded her side of the table.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Recognition finally came in the form of a rough shove to the shoulder as Fuu rounded on him.

"If he doesn't want to tell you, he's not going to – and I'm not either!" Mugen scowled at her and scooted his cushion towards Jin, unreasonably seeking a better reception.

He covered a stubbly face with a muting hand and muttered, "What's she going on about? Did we get the bill or something?" Jin, though strongly tempted to follow Fuu's example and push the unseemly creature away from him, decided it was just to provide a basic answer.

"I received a piece of personal mail of no interest to either of you."

Mugen leaned back, resting on his hands and leered, "What, Mommy send you a care package?"

He ignored such entirely rude repayment to his judicious treatment and returned his gaze to Fuu as she wheedled, "But what'd it say?"

He blinked once, disappointed by her undying curiosity, before finishing the last bites on his plate.

Mugen persisted, poking Jin's thigh with an extended toe, "Someone out to hire you?"

His reply was a smarting slap to the foot.

Fuu twisted her napkin in excitement, asking, "Is it a hotel survey? We registered under your name…"

Jin's expression darkened and he stacked his utensils forcefully on his bowl.

"Debt notice?" offered Mugen.

"Wanted statement?" mused Fuu.

"Not a pay check…"

"Advertisement?"

"Market prices?"

"Festival notice?"

"Product trail?"

"Thank you letter?"

"For what – pssh! What has he done? Academy ad?"

"Oh my God!"

Jin rose tersely.

"You're not being _drafted,_ are you?"

He stared from Fuu – doe eyes fixated, hands to her cheeks in self-induced panic – to Mugen – disgustingly ignorant look of mingled confusion and disbelief in place.

"Haa…" Dark eyes shut behind their glasses and he turned from his companions, evidently but subtly vexed.

In a last ditch effort to evoke a verbal answer, Fuu and Mugen blurted,

"Health notice- "

"-from a brothel!"

A brief pause of anticipation was curtailed by the snap of a navy sleeve as Jin tossed the letter on the table in defeat and made a curt exit. The two gazes found the envelope at the same time and quivered on its off-white corners.

"Eh!"

"Mine!"

Fuu was easily out maneuvered but flung her arms around Mugen's shoulders and thus secured a viewing position. Eager fingers unnecessarily ripped the top of the already opened paper and unfolded the pristine sheet. A slow transformation of expectancy to incomprehension to revelation played out on Fuu's features and Mugen jostled her irritably, growling, "Read it to me!"

She sat up straight, oblivious to the demand, and let her mouth fall open in shock.

"Oh my g…"

"Woman, read it to me!" the uninformed ruffian jabbed her in the side.

"Wha? – oh!" Fuu grabbed the now crinkled letter and furiously rattled off the message as Mugen listened, an intent look belying his stratospheric curiosity.

The letter read, Fuu glanced up to Mugen, wringing her sleeves in distress. "Eeeeh…I'm gonna go find Jin," she deliberated aloud, leaving her befuddled table-mate. "And be nice to him when you see him later!"Fuu commanded as she exited the dining room.

Mugen stared after her, lip twitching in a confused gape until the sound of a wall panel clicking into place jolted him into action.

He downed his tea and slammed the cup back on the table. Untamed strands of brown blurred as he shook his head vigorously. With that, he swallowed and bounced to his fee, marching purposefully in pursuit, preceded by a raucous query of, "Did you say that last bit was 'I love you'?"


	2. Explain

Explain

"Okay, okay, okay…" Mugen spread his hands out in front of his face. "I went with a prostitute…" he folded his fingers into a fist and held up a thumb to keep track. "Meanwhile Fuu was captured by Crazy Guy – Crazy Guy is that man whose…_ hand_ I cut off?" He eyed the attending duo for confirmation and received a short nod from Fuu before raising his fore and middle fingers. "Like that narrows it down for me," he muttered, mounting a stone wall on the side of the road.

Mugen thoroughly enjoyed being taller than Jin when he could.

"And Crazy Guy had an ogre-monster-guy?" Finger four joined the first three. "I was drugged…" he squinted upwards in contemplation. "Oh, wait, I remember that wench! Gods, nice body, what a shame." Fuu rolled her eyes at the expression of stoic regret, so much more appropriate for remembering a fallen comrade, or local hero, or pretty much anything but a whore. "So, me – drugged," finger five completed a full hand." And then I was _fighting_ ogre-monster-guy…'cause Fuu was _captured_ by Crazy Guy…but Jin _wasn't_ there. Jin," the name jolted as Mugen landed in the dusty road at the end of the crumbling stone wall, "Jin was off fighting an _assassin_? And this guy – this assassin guy – was hired by the Crazy Guy so he could kidnap Fuu?" He held up one, then three fingers, then let his hands drop in abandon. "And the letter's from this assassin who Jin fought with on that night I went with the prostitute," Mugen concluded with a quizzical cock of the head.

"Yes," Jin quickly and vigorously affirmed the simple yet thoroughly complicated summary statement.

"Aaaaw!" Fuu lightly bapped the diamond-patterned arm, effecting a piteous face. "I know exactly how it feels! There's a dirty lecher in every town, and they know exactly how to find you!" She gazed skyward in perturbed musing.

Mugen crowded into stride, flanking Jin on the opposite shoulder and adding, "But did he think you were a girl or what? I mean, easy enough mistake, but seriously-"

Jin increased his pace to outstride his peevish companions and Fuu hissed, "Mugen! Be sensitive!"

"What? It's true! Why's a _guy_ sending him frickin' love letters? Either he looks like a girl or the guy's a f-"

"Let it suffice to say that he is _not_ confused as to my gender and, most importantly, that the letter is solely _my_ concern." Jin's habitual severity silenced the party effectively as they descended a slight hill.

But Mugen could not keep quiet long, especially at this moment of critical delicacy. He sidled in front of Jin, walking backwards as he challenged, "And how do you figure that? _I_ need to know if there's a gay, over-aged creeper stalking us 'cause you know how creepers are…"

"Yes, I imagine you would," Jin retorted. "And I see your point," he continued, curtailing a forming rebuttal, "you're probably outmatched; I'd be scared too."

Predictably, their blades were drawn and crossed before Fuu had the chance to insert herself as a human buffer.

* * *

The sun was going down.

Two days ago, yes, she recounted, only two days ago they had spent a lucky gambling profit on the inn where the infamous letter had been received. Already, fifty-three skirmishes over the god-forsaken thing had been averted by her physical intervention. They hadn't traveled a morning's walk over the course of a full day, and she was already on the verge of collapse. The thought was put to practice and Fuu plopped down in the middle of the country road, attracting a backwards glance from Jin and then Mugen. She sighed dramatically.

"The hell?" The more volatile of the two escorts gestured purposefully down the road several times.

Fuu shook her head daintily and stated, "I'm done for the day."

"'Cause there's totally a place to stop!" Mugen scanned the empty fields surrounding them sarcastically while Jin approached their fallen third wheel to attempt bodily displacement.

Both men were frozen by the abruptly sinister expression that came over Fuu's countenance as she firmly intoned, "I am not… _moving_…from this spot… until…_ tomorrow_… MORNING!!!"

The last word rang clearly across the weeds before dissipating into remnants of adolescent female fury. Jin turned marginally and exchanged a meaningful look.

Mugen nodded slightly.

They simultaneously moved into action, Jin leaning to assist Fuu and Mugen taking off down the road, contrary to what Jin had understood they'd agreed upon. Subtlety was entirely lost on the menace.

"BAKA!" Fuu bellowed to his retreating back with such alarming volume that Mugen leapt as if set aflame and Jin's right shoulder twitched visibly.

"WHAAAT?" replied the deserter, half turning around and jogging in place uncomfortably.

"Come back!" she pined, vigor finally spent.

"Aie, aie…" Mugen teetered between his left and right feet then let his head fall back and groaned into the musty heavens. As he returned, watching Jin guiding Fuu to her feet, it occurred to him that there was something to be gained from the circumstances. "Alright, alright," he conceded as he reached the wearily sulking Fuu. She pouted excessively and Mugen's deceptively lax gaze stole towards Jin, examining a divot off the path and thrashing grass flat with sheathed katanas.

The opportunities were prime.

* * *

It was a relief that spring was in full swing, otherwise the sleeping conditions would be one hundred percent worse. As things were, everyone could rest comfortably without extra blankets, and honestly the weed tufts were just as cozy as several of their low budget inn beddings. The one thing Jin regretted was the lack of a safe place to put his glasses, though, in all fairness, there were worse inconveniences than sleeping with them on. In fact, one of them was sitting on the other side of Fuu doing a half-ass job of bandit lookout. For some reason, the beast kept looking at him, as if desiring to start conversation and then losing heart.

It came to the point where he was ready to demand an explanation himself, but the vagrant whispered, "Fuu?" He leaned closer to the motionless shadowy form. "Fuu? Hey, Fuu?"

"She's asleep," Jin informed in carefully quiet tones.

"That's what I was figuring out, dumb ass-"

"I suggest observation; talking to sleeping people usually wakes them up," he cut the menace off coolly. He was such a rotten whisperer, Fuu would surely be awake if she wasn't such a sound sleeper. Mugen lapsed into a pissy silence, allowing Jin to add, "And I don't want to talk about the letter." He rolled to his side, back to his companions and heard the slight creak of joints in his specs. The only option was laying face up it appeared. It would be impossible to replace his glasses. Jin exhaled audibly, too controlled, but very nearly sighing.

Mugen eyed his predicament surreptitiously then offered smugly, "Hold those for you if you talk about the letter."

Was it worth it? Jin weighed the possibilities mentally. Mugen held out a presumptuous hand. Unfortunately, a restful sleep was worth discussion, so he bypassed the hand and tucked an earpiece into the front of the beast's shirt.

"What can you possibly have left unanswered?" Jin inquired preemptively. "You've asked me about it nearly nonstop since it arrived."

"Tell me about the assassin guy…" Mugen provided, half-listening to the snide invitation for questions. "You've never said how you met up with him."

Jin frowned, scouring his memory. "There was a spring. I was bathing and he was there too. He made," Mugen faced him as his voice became slightly distressed, "he made some kind of comment about the fireflies…they were calling out to each other, the males to the females and then," Mugen could make out a troubled scowl on the dimly visible pale face, "then some males calling out to other males. It was strange…"

"Wow, yeah, hell of a fag," Mugen agreed, now looking off into the night.

Jin glanced at him, found his vision nearly nonexistent, and rolled to his side once again. "Is that all?"

"Uhhh, yeah, one more thing actually… How do you know he's the one who sent it?"

Jin sighed, awed at his poor retention. "Fuu read the letter to you, yes?"

"Well, yeah-"

"How did it end?"

" 'I love y'-"

"What was the signature? At the very end?"

"What is this, a listening quiz? Can't you just tell me?"

"Yes, I can, but you have already been told once and I am disinclined to repeat myself."

Fuu mumbled in deep sleep and Mugen muttered, "Jackass," behind her aural cover. Jin heard anyway and shook his head in the barest indication of disgust.

"Firefly," he stated dryly.

"What?"

"The assassin signed off 'firefly', so obviously its him."

"Gods, what a frickin creeper…" Mugen rested his nose in the nest of his arms propped on bent knees. He hoisted his bandolier after some thought, adjusting it for optimal sword reach.

Jin reminded softly, "Wake me up when you want your shift to end."

He was answered by a harsh clap and lifted his head. He could scarcely identify a pair of outstretched arms.

Mugen wiped his hands on the grass and explained grimly, "Early firefly."


End file.
